"SHOT GUN"

PLATOON

Howthe"Shot Gun" PlatoonBegan!

The early years of the 33rd/118th were years when
Army Aviation in Vietnam was "blazing the trail" and
"going where no others had gone before." When the 33rd
Transportation Company deployed to Vietnam in Sept 1962, no US
combat troops were in Vietnam....it was a MAAG(advisory role)action,
only. The only combat troops were the ARVN. But, of course, they
had American advisors.

Early aviation units(Transportation Companies) had
no organic door gunners authorized by TO&E. Instead, door
gunners were volunteers, doubling from their regular duties from
aircraft crew men, motor pools, mess halls and anywhere else they
could be found. Occasionally, a man from another unit in the area
(MP's) would "volunteer" to ride as a door gunner to
help out.

Then, a really far-out plan was "hatched"
in 1962. MACV requested combat-trained men to take over the job
of door gunners to man automatic weapons to protect the helicopters
on operational missions. The plan was for the 25th Infantry Division
in Hawaii to train and send gunners from Hawaii for short periods
of time, usually approximately 90 days. This program was called
Provisional Machine Gun Platoons, or "Shot Gun Platoons"
for short. By late 1965, when the 25th Division fully deployed
to Vietham, more than 2,000 officer and men from the "Tropic
Lightning" Division had completed the training and gone TDY
to Vietnam. Approximately 13 men gave their lives and more than
100 were wounded in "Shot Gun Platoons" by late 1965.
In all for "Shot-Gun" One, the first group was made
of approx. 106 men.

From its inception, the Shotgun program was entirely
volunteers. Each "Shotgunner" had to pass a Class III
flight physical examination in which vision, color blindness,
hearing and other physical conditions were checked. Training was
primarily with the M-60 machine gun, but the volunteers also were
expert with the .50 caliber machine gun, M79 grenade launcher,
.45 caliber pistol, M3 machine gun, the .30 caliber M2 carbine
and the M16 rifle and M14, complete with bayonet.

In training, while in Hawaii, the platoons first
were introduced to helicopter flight from a mock-up. They were
oriented to the various gun mounts and also in free firing with
the "Bungee cord." Additional training also included
techniques of aerial observation and firing at various altitudes,
plus how to respond with instantaneous but planned reactions.
Accuracy was constantly emphasized, especially in the descent
to a landing zone phase. Reports from men returning from Vietnam
provided experience which honed their training through out the
time period of the "Shotgun Platoons."

True to military form, there was a number of different
designations and changes to the original concept, but overall
it remained the same for several years, only the name of the unit
changing. The plan worked and can be considered a success.

The First Group

The very first platoon sized group to arrive at
the 33rd Tranporation Company for door gunner duty came from Companies
A, B, C, D, E and CSC of the 1st Battle Group, 35th Infantry Regiment
of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. The arrived sometime
in mid March 1963. Their TDY letter orders: 03-89, from HQ, 25th
Infantry Division, dtd 19 Mar 1963, stated that they were to be
"TDY to: USASGV, APO 143, US Forces". Their WP (will
proceed) date was " 22 Mar 63" for a period of "Approx.
90 days". The orders crypticly stated that their purpose
was "In conec w mil actv" (In connection with military
activity). Among the many details spelled out in the Special Instructions
of their orders was, "Passports are rqr (required). Visas
will be obtained immediately upon arrival" plus, "Indiv
wpn will be pistol , Cal.45 and will accomp indiv." In other
words, these men were the same as armed American tourists who
would be guests of the Vietnamese government!! This was very early
in the Vietnamese war, for sure, when it was recognized as only
an "advisory" mission!

On the orders were 21 men who arrived in mid-March
1963 at the 33rd/118th Avn Company in Bien Hoa, Vietnam.

In addition, each Platoon member was placed on Hazardous
Duty orders, by Special Orders Number 41, Dtd 15 Mar 1963, as
a Noncrew member. The special instructions said: "Indiv rqr
to participate regularly and frequently in aerial flights as noncrew
mbr. Unless sooner terminated or suspended, these orders will
automatically terminate upon PCS or rel fr asg to above duty."
These orders probably were effective during the short training
period provided in Hawaii prior to departing for Vietnam.

Personal remembrance of James D. Strachan

"I recall that the Shotgun plan
was not "hatched in early 1963" because I seem to remember
waiting by the phone in our bachelor pad in Honolulu for a call
about being selected or rejected for the secret mission over
the Christmas '62 holiday, or possibly New Year's holiday '62-'63,
after having gone through the interview process at 1/35 Battle
Group HQ with about 19 other volunteers. So, I think the planning/decision-making
on Shotgun was done in '62. One of my bachelor roommates and
West Point classmate, John (Jack) Veatch was waiting with me
for a similar call from the 2/35 (Cacti Blue). Both of us were
among the 5 Infantry officer West Point classmates selected,
as I indicated before. I knew and liked Crotty, of course, and
he had Shotgun 2 in June '63."

"I commanded the 4th Provisional
Platoon Machine-gun (Counterinsurgency), 1st Battle Group, 35th
Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. We were one of five such platoons
of volunteers recruited from each of the 25th's five infantry
Battle Groups for an initially secret mission to an undisclosed
place. We trained on Oahu Jan-Mar 63, including firing machine-guns
from H-21's at 55-gallon drums in a remote valley. "

" We deployed from Hawaii to
Vietnam on TDY in Mar 63 to replace crew-member door gunners
in the five helicopter companies then supporting ARVN forces.
The Shotgun 1 platoon of the Cacti Green arrived at
the 33rd in Bien Hoa after landing at Tan Son Nhut in Saigon
around 19 March of '63 under my command. We flew to Vietnam in
a C121 via Guam, as I recall, and all wore short sleeve khakis
and spit-shined boots. The flight was about 22 hours I think.
An Army Times article once reported these five infantry platoons
in March '63 were considered the first combat troops sent to
Vietnam, (well ahead of the units arriving in '65). (I had already
spent a week's TDY in Vietnam in '62, and was very honored to
be picked for the '63 mission.)"

"My platoon was assigned to the 33rd at Bien Hoa. The platoon
consisted of 1 officer (me) and 20 enlisted. We lived in the
33rd compound and were attached to the 33rd under command of
MAJ Henderson. In addition to commanding the 33rd's first door
gunner platoon, I had an additional duty as weapons officer for
the 33rd, inventorying and accounting for all weapons. I also
prepared and coordinated the 33rd's perimeter defense plan with
the Bien Hoa USAF base commander as another additional duty.
Myself and all platoon members flew many missions as door gunners
on the 33rd's H-21C's and we all received the air medal. One
platoon member received the purple heart. "

We returned to Hawaii in June '63.
A couple of years later, we were all retroactively qualified
for the aircraft crewman badge. I have a platoon roster which
should get into the 33rd history in some way. Haven't yet read
Brandt's book but I knew him then. When I went to Hanoi in 1994,
I stopped by an art exhibit and there was Richard Olsen, one
of the Olsen twins who was a 33rd pilot when I was there. We
had a 33rd mini-reunion in Hanoi, of all places! Jim Strachan,
Missouri City, Texas.

"We in Shotgun 1 didn't have
a patch, nor did we ever hear of the 118th, which became the
redesignated
33rd. I did have two crossed machine-guns embroidered on one
of my caps, which I still have, and I do have a gray flight suit
with name and rank and a 33rd patch on the front. I have a fading
photo similar to the Sept '63 photo from around Apr '63 of me
in helmet and fatigues behind machine-gun in a 33rd CH21 named
"Geisha Girl". "

"Our only wounded gunner was
PFC Larry Felty. He was grazed by a bullet under the arm while
protecting a CH21 that went down. As I recall, one of Veatch's
gunners at Soc Trang may have been wounded too, I think in the
stomach, and those two gunners may have been the only Purple
Hearts awarded in Shotgun 1, although I am not completely sure.
"

"Our 1/35 Battle Group CO, COL
Olson, who selected me for Shotgun 1, is still alive, as are
all four of the other original Shotgun 1 platoon leader 1LTs
- Veatch, Clements, Altmeyer and Hartford. After being selected
to command the 4th Provisional Platoon, I was allowed to pick
20 men (a Platoon SGT and 19 EM) from a group of about 100 volunteers
in a rigorous interview process at Schofield Barracks. I still
have all of their photos and personal data somewhere. "(Oct
2006)

The Second Group

The second platoon sized group to arrive at the
33rd Tranporation Company for door gunner duty came from Companies
A, B, C, D, E and CSC of the 1st Battle Group, 35th Infantry Regiment
of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. The arrived sometime
in mid June 1963. Their TDY letter orders: 06-18, from HQ, 25th
Infantry Division, stated that they, too, were to be "TDY
to: USASGV, APO 143, US Forces". Their WP (will proceed)
date was " 14 June 63" for a period of "Approx.
90 days". The orders crypticly stated that their purpose
was "In conec w mil actv" (In connection with military
activity). Among the many details spelled out in the Special Instructions
of their orders was, "Passports are rqr (required). Visas
will be obtained immediately upon arrival." In other words,
these men were the same as American tourists who would be guests
of the Vietnamese government!! This was very early in the Vietnamese
war, for sure.

On the orders were 21 men who arrived in mid-June
1963 at the 33rd/118th Avn Company in Bien Hoa, Vietnam.

The Original Pocket Patch

The original patch of the 118th Aviation Company
(AML) "Door Gunners" platoon was designed by SGT Donald
Curry and SGT C.J. "Duke" DuShane in 1963. It was designed
shortly after the 33rd Transportation Company was redesignated
the 118th Aviation Company.

Symbolism:

1. The center shield with the "cacti" is the
the unit crest of the 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Inf. Division,
the parent regiment of the first door gunners.

2. The wings on each side of the shield stand for the
flight status of the door gunners.

4. The coffin shape of the patch stands for the fact that
the gunners thought of the H-21 as a flying coffin because it
was so slow and made a very large target.

C.J. "Duke" DuShane

Ellerslie, GA, 31807

Later Groups to Arrive

1. By General Orders # 306,
dtd 25 May 1964, Headquarters, U.S. Army Support Command, Vietnam,
the predecessor of Military Assistance Command Vietnam(MACV),
seven (7) Provisional Machine Gun Platoons and one Detachment
were organized from the following units of the 25th Division in
Hawaii:

3. From the General Orders, the stated
Mission was: "To provide gunners to man machine guns and
automatic rifles from U.S. Army helicopters in the Republic of
Vietnam." These men were assigned TDY to the units in Vietnam
for a period of 90 days and then most returned to their duty stations
in Hawaii. Authorized strength for the 1st Prov. MG Platoon in
Sep. 1964 was one(1) officer and thirty-two(32) enlisted men.
However, it was not long before they were right back in Vietnam
as the 25th Inf. Div. deployed to Vietnam in late 1965.

4. In General Orders # 651, dtd 1
Nov 1964, the seven(7) Provisional Machine Gun Platoons were DETACHED
from their respective Aviation Companies and RE-ATTACHED to the
following:

1st Prov. MG Plt-_-145th Avn Bn

2nd Prov. MG Plt---52nd Avn Bn

3rd Prov. MG Plt---145th Avn Bn

4th Prov. MG Plt---52nd Avn Bn

5th Prov. MG Plt---13th Avn Bn

6th Prov. MG Plt---I Corp. Avn Det.(Prov)

7th Prov. MG Plt---13th Avn Bn

5. Finally, in General Orders # 506,
dtd 30 Mar 1965, of HQ, U.S. Army Support Command, Vietnam, the
platoons were re-named "Aerial Door Gunner Detachments."
Plus, the number of detachments was increased to thirteen(13)
from seven(7). Then, there was also added the attachment of SECURITY
DETACHMENTS ALPHA through GOLF to the same Aviation Battalions.
In the orders as Special Instructions, it reads, "Personnel
to be rotated through airfield security and door gunner duties.
Primary mission that of Airfield Security."

The exact date the "Shot Gun" Platoons
and Security Detachments were disbanded is not entirely clear.
The TO & E of the Aviation Company was modified to include
door gunners. However, it is possible the Bn's kept the Security
Detachments. This likely happened about the same time the 25th
Inf. Div. arrived in Vietnam.

If anyone has knowledge of when this happened and
has orders showing it, please forward to the Web master.

Note: The 25th Infantry Division deployed
to Vietnam from Hawaii in January 1966.

Personal remembrances

PFC Garrett Sargent(Silverman),
a gunner remembers: "LT Irving took a .51 cal in the chest
while they were shut-down outside a village. He was my CO and
we were really hot over this. He was a great guy and a great
officer. We ran 5 miles every morning for 6 weeks with him while
we were in our training in Hawaii as Shot Gunners. I think all
of us would have followed 1LT Irving into Hell!"

Harold "Chip"
Austin, a gunner remembers:"
I was assigned TDY as a door gunner to the 118th Aviation Company
from the 25th Infantry Division from April to Sept. 1965). It
was called the Shot Gun program. Lt. John Irving was KIA in my
assigned UH1B slick ship.(I think it was ship #2 in the 1st Platoon)He
bumped me off that day because he wanted to fly. I did not want
to return to duty on this ship after his death and asked to be
transfer to the armed platoon. I was assigned to ship #7 in the
third platoon (Bandits)which was nicknamed the "Death Trap".
It was the oldest ship in the platoon and sustained a lot of
damage over its service life (about every exterior skin part
was a different shade of olive drab touch-up paint). Within a
short period of time, the old aircraft was retired and a brand
new UH-1B replaced it. The prior door gunner on ship #7 was wounded
and sent to Japan for treatment in the same operation that Lt.
Irving was KIA. Lt. Irving's death was a severe blow to our Gunner
Platoon because he was well liked and respected. We also lost
another member of our Gunner Platoon named PFC Willam Oakley.
He was killed when two UH1-B slick ships of the 118th aviation
collided in mid-air over Bien Hoa Air Base. We left Hawaii with
28 men and if my memory serves me correctly we returned with
18."

Door Gunners Imported as "Hired Guns"

1963

SP4 Leo M. Hines, Chad Payne's gunner, who
was one of the "hired guns" TDY from Co.D, 65th Engineer
Bn, 25th Inf. Div. in Hawaii. Note the rocket and M-60 set-up.
Rockets were 6 pound warheads. Whole affair was devised with help
of UTT and adapted to the UH-1B's with intervalometers from USAF.
Quite a unique adaptation for the Bandits.

Bet a Gunner/CE got a scare when a rocket
was fired!!

(Photo courtesy Chad Payne)

Jimmy Thompson remembers: "I
was with the 65th Engr Bn in Hawaii, having joined the division
in May of 63. The 65th was asked to provide a platoon of door
gunners to depart for Vietnam in December of 1963. I was the
Platoon SGT. of that platoon. We arrived in Vietnam about the
10th of December after a trip on a C-130 that had us spending
two days in the Philippines due to maintenance problems with
the plane."

"We arrived at Tan So Nhut and
were taken by bus to Bien Hoa and the 118th. We spent 90 days
there flying eagle flights and combat assaults. I also remember
Colonel "Coal Bin" Willie Wilson. He was a stickler
for military protocol."

That was at that time when it was
a five day war. When the week-end came a number of the people
went to Saigon for the weekend!"

Chad Payne, early "Shawnee"
pilot and a member of the Bandits when they formed in late 1963
remembers: "All of our Door Gunners were volunteers from
the 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii. These "Tropic
Lightning" troops came to Vietnam for 3 months TDY and were
assigned as a Platoon sized unit to each Aviation Company. The
118th had one group of Door Gunners that extended for an additional
3 months while I was there. They had an assigned Platoon Leader
named Tim Crotty who was my hooch mate. I was a sort of liaison
between the 118th and the gunners because I had been a machine
gun squad leader in the old 45th Division"Thunderbird"
from Oklahoma and knew the M-1919-A6 Browning pretty well, and
I was an Infantry Officer with Infantry experience."

"At one point, Tim Crotty had
to go TDY and was gone for a few weeks. I stood in as the gunner's
Platoon Leader. I guess I was picked because I was the only aviator
who could speak"Gunner".

"When we got and transitioned
into UH-1B Hueys, the old Browning machine guns were consigned
to history and the Door Gunners used M-14's on full automatic.
It wasn't all that great because of the 20 round magazine of
the M-14. When the Door Gunners tried to adjust their fire by
watching the tracers, they would run out of ammo many times before
they got fire on the target. I am not sure just when we got M-60's
for the Door Gunners."

"I remember we had one M-14
blow up! The barrel peeled back like a banana. I suspect that
one round lacked a powder charge and the primer drove the bullet
down the barrel partway and it stopped. The next round came up
behind it and the pressure split the barrel. The Door Gunner
wasn't hurt, fortunately, but he said it sure kicked like hell."

"Gunner's Heaven"

"Gunner's Heaven" Hooch where the
TDY 25th Inf. Div. gunners lived.

James Larson is at the door.(64)

(Photo courtesy James Larson)

1965

Group of mostly 25th Inf. Div. Shot gunners
in 118th in 1965.

Standing L to R: James Williams(Retired as
CMD SGTMAJ) , ? ,

PFC Dean Brumfield(big hat) ,

SGT Harry Long, Ira Francis , Thomas G. Fanning.

Front L to R: ? , ? , SGT Kulhani, SGT Perez

(Photo courtesy Harold "Chip" Austin,
Gunner)

Personal remembrance

Tom Carlton,
a door gunner from the 25th DIV. remembers, "The term 'Shotgun
Two' started about May of 1963 when the 25th DIV at Schofield
Barracks in Hawaii started sending platoons consisting of one
officer, a Plt SGT and 25 enlisted men to Vietnam to different
bases. Each platoon was TDY for 3 months and then replaced by
another platoon. I was in the second group and we were sent to
Bien Hoa and the 118th. The 25th DIV came up with the idea of
calling these gunner platoons, 'Shotgun Platoons' and we were
very proud of our nicknames."

Personal remembrance

Ted Jambon, who
was 1st PLT Cmdr and an Operations Officer in the 118th during
the 64-65 time period remembers the "Shot Gunners"....."They
received some initial training before leaving Hawaii, and then
when they got to their unit they received advanced training down
at Bear Cat (near Long Thanh) just south of Bien Hoa. We had
sort of a firing range setup down there. Those gunners were magnificent
with the M60. I was always amazed at how accurately they could
deliver fire on an enemy position. Most of the gunners who came
over from Hawaii wanted to transfer into the 118th rather than
go back to home. That tells you something about them, and about
us."

More Personal remembrance

Ted Jambon continues
with this story..." I didn't really get to know any of them
very well as I was in Operations until just about the time the
25th came over. But there was one particular gunner, whose name
was Cornelius Williams, who I made sure was on my ship &
on my side of the aircraft. That guy was a virtuoso with the
machine gun. I recall once we were called out on a quick reaction
lift to bring in troops to bail out a unit that was meeting heavy
opposition. We landed in a paddy and the VC started popping out
of spider holes all around us. I was 1st Plt, Ldr. then and leading
the flight. To our front about 40 yards away a man and two women
popped out and started firing at ME. I yelled to Williams to
put some fire on them. He looked outside to the front and said
"I don't kill women"! At that moment one of the gals
fired a burst from a submachine gun at him and the next thing
I heard was a burst of M60 fire and the immortal words, "Die
you blankety blank!, and saw her being flipped over backwards.
He next hosed the the other gal and the guy who were shooting
at us. As we flew over them departing the LZ, I glanced down
and one was trying with her last dying breathe to lift up her
weapon and get a shot at us. Williams nailed her good that time.
I loved that guy, he was very good with a M60 machine gun."